


Grounded

by SkyEverett



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Countries are guardian angels, Countries have wings, Fallen angels become human, Gen, Wingtalia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 00:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4459166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyEverett/pseuds/SkyEverett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Augustus always felt like part of him belonged in the sky.  Feliciano saw a man in Rome that looked an awful lot like his late grandfather.  But that couldn't be right...or could it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grounded

    Augustus remembered flying.  
  
    He remembered what it was like to live among the angels, to soar with them through clouds and mountains…and he remembered being the most powerful one in the sky.  The grandfather of all nations.  Every time he looked up at that endless blue, he felt phantom wings in his back, pulling him upward, fighting to get his grounded, human body into the sky where he could finally be free.  
  
    But no.  Such things were impossible.    
  
    And sometimes, he believed these memories were, too.

 

* * *

 

    Feliciano struggled to keep up with Ludwig as they glided across the sky.   “Ludwig~!  I can’t fly any more, I’m so tired!  Can’t I rest just for a moment—?”  
  
     _“Nein,_  we have to keep going!  You haven’t even completed your second lap!”  
  
    “But we’re passing Rome~!”  Feliciano veered to the right and pulled his wings in for a dive.  “I’m going down!”  
  
     _“NEIN!_   Feliciano—!”  
  
    But Feliciano had already shot down to the busy streets of his favorite city.  He laughed as the smells of fresh fruit and bread wafted through the air.  “Maybe I could grab a loaf and take it back to Ludwig!  I know how much he loves my food…”  Slowly, he came to land right in the middle of a busy marketplace.  No one took any notice of him, and he didn’t expect them to…after all, humans couldn’t see the guardians unless they chose to show themselves.  Nevertheless, Feliciano put a few gold coins on a vendor’s table before he proceeded to take three long, crunchy baguettes from their bin.  The smell made Feliciano want to eat them all right then and there, but he relented and prepared to take to the skies again, but out the corner of his eye he saw another human.  
  
    Looking.  Right.  At him.  
  
    Feliciano froze, wondering if the man was looking at someone directly behind him, but the man had stopped his walking and stared right into Feliciano’s amber gaze with one that was strikingly similar.  He looked to be in his late twenties, with a bit of stubble on his tanned chin, light brown eyes, and brown, tousled hair with two cowlicks.  Definitely Italian.  
  
    And so familiar…  
  
    “Aah…who are…”  Feliciano opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t form words properly.  The man he was seeing was…but that was impossible… _How was that possible…?_  
  
     _“DUMMKOPF!”_  yelled a familiar German voice as a hand grabbed him by the wing.  
  
    “Ve!” yelled Feliciano, startled.  “Ludwig—I got you some bread—!”  
  
    “We’re  _leaving!”_  
  
    “Aah—but—Ludwig,  _per favore—!”_  
  
    But Ludwig wasn’t going to take  _no_  for an answer.  As the two comrades took off, the Italian saw one word form on the human man’s lips:  
  
     _Feliciano._

 

* * *

 

    “Hey, Lovino?”  
  
    “What do you want,  _fratello?”_  
  
    The two brothers stretched out on a cliff, watching as the clouds went by above them.  Both had just come back from five hours of training.  
  
    “I saw a human today.”  
  
    “Whoop-de-doo,  _idiota._   We see them every day.”  
  
    “This one actually looked at me,  _fratello._   He said my name.”  
  
     _“What?!”_  Lovino sat up so fast that Feliciano jumped back.  “Feliciano—he knew your  _name?_   No one’s supposed to know our names except us!”  
  
    “I know that, Lovino, but…this one was different.”  
  
    “Look, there are some people who can see us, but they’re one in a billion—”  
  
    “He looked like Grandpa Augustus.”  
  
    Lovino stopped mid-breath and stared at Feliciano.  “Are you sure?” he whispered.  
  
     _“Si.”_  
  
    Lovino looked stricken, almost as if he were about to cry.  “You…you actually remember what he looks like?”  
  
    Feliciano immediately felt a pang of sympathy for his older brother, who hadn’t spent much time with him when they were little.   _“S-si…_ brown hair with cowlicks like us, hazel eyes, tanned…same look, I’m certain.”  
  
    Lovino shook his head vigorously.  “That’s impossible.”  
  
    “Tomorrow I’ll take you to see him.”  
  
    “Oh, and you expect he’ll be in the  _exact same place_  he was last time?   _Che idiota!”_  
  
    “Obviously not,  _fratello._  But I found out where he lives.”  
  
     _“Davvero?”  
  
    “Si._   I’ll show you.”  
  
    “All right, all right,” retorted Lovino, laying back down.  “But if I find out this is a trick, or you’re lying to me, I’ll find your secret pasta stash—the one you’ve been hiding from potato-lover—and eat all of it!”  
  
     _“Ti prometto che non sto mentendo!”_  cried Feliciano frantically.  
  
    Lovino nodded.   _“Buona.”_

* * *

  
    “Hey, Gerhart?” asked Augustus, looking over at his flat-mate.    
  
    The German flicked his blue eyes from his book to Augustus.  “What?”  
  
    “Have you ever seen an angel?”  
  
    Gerhart closed his book and looked at his friend.  “What gave you  _that_  idea?”  
  
    “Well…I think I might have.  And I’m wondering whether or not I’m crazy.”  
  
    “People sometimes think they saw something but it turns out to be something else.  I don’t think you’ve gone  _verrückt.”_  
  
    “Oh…all right then.”  Augustus was more or less used to Gerhart's native language by now.  
  
    “Now, can you  _please_  let me get back to my reading?”  
  
    “Oh, sure~!  I didn’t mean to bother you, go ahead!”  
  
     _“Danke.”_  
  
    “I think I’m going to take a walk to the market; I’ve got nothing else to do.”  
  
    “Bring me back some wurst.”  
  
    Augustus squirmed at the idea.  Why did Gerhart like the weirdest types of food?  “O-okay, sure.”

 

* * *

 

    “See!  Look,  _fratello,_  what did I tell you?”  
  
    Feliciano and Lovino flew quickly from tree to tree, watching as an Italian man walked through a winding path in the woods below.  Lovino was speechless—even the man’s gait when he walked was the same.  
  
    “What’s he humming?” asked Feliciano.  
  
    Lovino found his voice.  “The Tomato Song…he taught me that.”  
  
    “Ve?” Feliciano was confused.  “But I thought Antonio taught you—”  
  
    “It was Augustus.”  
  
    “All right.”  
  
    The two leapt from tree to tree silently, following their grandfather’s human lookalike through the vegetation.  Then Lovino jumped a little too far and the two landed on a spindly, thin branch of a gigantic oak.  Feliciano kept his balance, but Lovino slipped clumsily and spread his wings out.  
  
    “Dammit,  _fratello—!”_  
  
    “Lovino, steady yourself!” yelled Feliciano as he lashed out to grab one of Lovino’s widly flapping wings.  But it was too late—panicking, Lovino tipped backward and fell out of the tree.  
  
    “AAAAAAAAUUUUUUGH!” he screamed, and Augustus’ head snapped up at the sudden noise just in time to see Lovino—in all his clumsy feather-glory—crash into the ground below.

 

* * *

 

     _“Dio mio…”_  breathed Augustus, and ran towards the fallen angel.  “Are you all right?”  As soon as he reached the angel and brushed one of his wings, a shock of recognition ran through him, and a name he had never said before sprang into his mind.  “Lovino?”  
  
    The angel turned around to look at him and widened his eyes.  “How do you know…?  I thought you only  _looked_  like him…”  
  
    “Lovino, are you all right?!”  Augustus looked up to see the angel from earlier, Feliciano, drop out of a tree and land next to his brother.  “Did you hurt anything?”  
  
    “No,” groaned Lovino, pushing himself up.  “I’m fine, Feliciano…ah!  Stupid wing!”  Lovino winced, and Augustus saw that one of the wings was hurt.  
  
     _Feliciano…Lovino…_  Augustus winced as images of these two ran across his mind.  He saw them grow up under the custody of other winged people named Roderich and Antonio…and him.  He had raised them since they were  _children._   How could he have forgotten that…?

-  
     _“Gerhart?  What are you doing?”  Augustus stared at his friend, who was holding a sword, glinting and deadly, at his throat.  Both of their wings, auburn and blond, were splayed out behind them in defense._  
  
  _“I’m sorry, Augustus.  You know how it goes, of course.  You have killed many of my people in attempts to conquer more land, but I simply cannot forgive that anymore.”_  
  
_“But, Gerhart, what’s caused this sudden betrayal?  Surely we can just talk about it and work something out—?”_  
  
_“Nein, I have no patience left for that.  Khüchtei has already taken over too much of my land.  My role, in being a guardian, is to protect my people, no matter what the cost.”_  
  
_Augustus stared, aghast, at the man who had been his best friend.  “Please,” he whispered, “don’t do this.”_  
  
_Gerhart set a look of cold determination on his face and raised the sword.  “I have no other choice.”_  
  
_Augustus screamed as the blade pierced his chest and Gerhart pushed him off of the cliff.  As he fell, his wings began to fall apart—feathers floating around him in a spiral pattern.  But in his final moments, he turned his thoughts to Lovino and Feliciano, his two beloved grandsons, and how he’d never get to see them grow up into strong and powerful heirs to Italy…_  
  
_“Per favore, Dio,” he whispered.  “Non farmi dimenticare su di loro…”_

-  
  
     _“I…I miei nipoti ...”_  Augustus whispered, his voice shaking.  “You’ve both grown so much…”  
  
    Feliciano’s eyes widened.   _“Nonno Augusto?  E 'davvero…?”_  
  
    Augustus smiled, desperate to hid the tears that were beginning to form.   _“Si.  Mi sei mancato tanto così tanto.”_  
  
    Feliciano grinned and leapt into Augustus’ arms and Lovino cracked a rare smile.  All three Italians talked vigorously about the lives they had had without each other and shared precious memories.  
  
    “So we can visit you whenever we want to?” asked Feliciano.  
  
    “Yeah, we can bend the rules a little for our own grandfather, can’t we?” added Lovino.  
  
    Augustus shook his head.  “I don’t think you can.”  
  
    Feliciano’s eyes widened.  “But  _why?_   You’re still family!”  
  
    Augustus sighed.   _“Ragazzi,”_  he said, touching each of their wings.  “You don’t need me anymore.  If a guardian falls, it’s permanent.  It’s up to you now, and I couldn’t be more proud.”  
  
    Lovino’s eyebrows shot up.   _“Us?  Nonno,_  we can’t just up and inherit the Roman Empire.”  
  
    “But you’re the guardians of Italy now, and that’s enough.  Carry on my legacy,” he said with a smile, patting his grandsons on the shoulders.  “Just keep being wonderful.”  
  
    Feliciano burst into tears at the thought.  He had just found his grandfather only to lose him again…it was even harder to say goodbye this time than it was the last.  
  
    Lovino glared at his brother.  “Shut up,  _fratello._  And  _Nonno_ …” He looked up at his grandfather.  “Can I just ask you one thing?”  
  
     _“Si,_  anything.”  
  
    “Did…did you love Feliciano more than me?”  
  
    Feliciano looked up, his hazel eyes glimmering in shock.  For a moment Augustus did not speak.  Then he put his hands around Lovino and embraced him, hard.  “Lovino Vargas,” he whispered so only his eldest could hear, “Never have I loved anyone more than I loved the two of you.  The same.  You’re both my treasures and pride and joy, and one is not better than the other.  Remember that.”    
  
    Lovino stood stiffly in his grandpa’s arms, but after he finished talking, Lovino returned the hug fiercely.   _“Ti amo, Nonno.”_  
  
     _“Ti amo, Lovino,”_  replied Augustus warmly.    
  
    Feliciano gave a yelp of happiness and embraced the two together, to which Lovino yelled “Get off me, stupid  _fratello!”_  
  
    “Well, you two had better get going,” said Augustus.  “You’ve got things to attend to.”  
  
    “Oh, right~!” exclaimed Feliciano.  “Where did the time go?  Ludwig will be mad at us…”  
  
    After a few waves, the two guardians took to the sky, and Augustus realized that maybe they still held a family bond—Lovino’s wing had healed just by being around Augustus.  “Make your grandfather proud,” he whispered with a smile.  
  
    “Hey, Augustus!”  
  
    Augustus’ head turned to see Gerhart standing there.  “Hey,” he answered.  Gerhart ignored him and ran up to him.   
  
    “Where have you been?  You were at the market for an awfully long time.  I got worried.”  
  
    “Ah,  _merda,_  I forgot all about that,” exclaimed Augustus sheepishly.  
  
     _“Dummkopf.”_   Gerhart sighed.  “You always were a spacy person.”  
  
    Augustus laughed.  “Ha ha, you know me too well.”  
  
    “Can’t be helped.  Let’s go to the market together.  What were you distracted by, anyways?”  
  
    “Angels again.”  
  
    Gerhart stopped and looked at his friend strangely.  Then he just sighed and shrugged.  The two walked in silence for a while, then Gerhart finally spoke up.  “Listen,  _freund,_  I’m sorry.”  
  
    Augustus looked over at Gerhart.  “Why?  I was the one who strayed off the path.”  
  
    “No, it’s not that.  Listen…” Gerhart fidgeted a bit.  “When I first met you and got to know you, I started thinking that I did something terrible to you.  I don’t know what, and I don’t remember what happened, but…maybe it’s like your ‘seeing angels’ thing.  I always have this feeling that I put something else before our friendship and hurt you.  I know I didn’t—well— _kill_  you, because that’s impossible, but I feel like it was something along those lines.  Maybe in a previous life…” Gerhart trailed off.  “So I’m sorry.  We’ll always be friends, right?”  
  
    Augustus smiled.  So he did remember, and he felt guilty, even after his sons took his place and he had to fall as well.  “I forgive you, Gerhart.  And we will always,  _always_  be friends.  No matter what kind of war comes between us.”  
  
    High up in the air, two Italian guardians watched their grandfather walk into his new life and smiled.  They too eventually flew into theirs.  
  
    But the two guardians of the Roman and Germanic Empires didn’t need wings for their lives; they both proved that they could do without.

**Author's Note:**

> Italian:  
> Per favore - Please  
> fratello - brother  
> idiota - idiot  
> Che idiota - what an idiot  
> davvero? - really?  
> si - yes  
> Ti prometto che non sto mentendo! - I promise I'm not lying!  
> Buona - good  
> Dio mio... - My god...  
> Per favore, Dio, non farmi dimenticare su di loro… - Please, God, don't let me forget about them...  
> I miei nipoti - My grandchildren  
> Nonno Augusto? E 'davvero…? - Grandfather Augustus? Is it really...?  
> Mi sei mancato tanto così tanto. - I missed you both so much.  
> Ragazzi - boys/my sons  
> Nonno - grandfather  
> Ti amo - I love you  
> merda - crap
> 
> German:  
> Nein - no  
> dummkopf - idiot  
> verrückt - crazy/insane  
> Danke - thank you  
> freund - friend
> 
> Khüchtei - Mongolia


End file.
